Colorado legislature forms ‘drought security’ task force to work on water issues

The school finance act, the legislative measure that funds public schools, is well on its way to passage through the General Assembly in the waning weeks of the session.

Senate Bill 287 funds each student at $8,076.41, an 8% increase over 2022-23 levels. It’s just shy of $1,000 more per student, according to Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, D-Arvada, the bill’s sponsor.

The bill also begins a two-year process for finally paying off the debt to K-12 education, known as the budget stabilization factor.

Using money from the state education fund, the bill pays down the BS factor by $180 million, from $321.4 million in the 2022-23 budget year to $141.2 million in the budget year that starts on July 1. And next year, an amendment to the bill pledges to pay off the rest.

That’s in contrast to the proposal from Gov. Jared Polis, who had asked that the debt be paid off over three years rather than two.

For rural schools, the bill provides $30 million, split 55/45 between rural districts (district with 6,500 students or fewer) and small rural districts, defined as 1,000 students or fewer.

That money can be used for one-time expenses for improving student learning, which can include teacher recruitment. 

The Holyoke school district would receive a one-time boost of $202,536 under the introduced version of the bill. Haxtun schools would get $107,457. The Yuma-1 district would receive $294,124; Wray RD-2 would get $245,985; Idalia RJ-3 would get $59,601; and Liberty J-4 would get $21,583.

Since 2017, lawmakers have met during the summer and fall to come up with a new school finance formula. That effort is at an end without resolution. 

SB 287 tasks the Department of Education with coming up with a public school finance task force that will make recommended changes to the school finance formula for 2024-25, which could include changes to the cost of living and size factors, and developing parameters for a study on the costs necessary to provide adequate public education funding.

That task force would be required to finish its work by the end of the year.

As to the issue of Indian mascots, the bill shifts back to the House version of an amendment offered during the state budget process that would distribute $300,000 from the State Education Fund among all schools that replaced their mascots to comply with a 2021 law.

SB 287 first says that the Department of Education must “fully fund all requests for reimbursement,” but if the amount is insufficient to do so, distribute those dollars proportionately. The Department of Education would be allowed to decide the parameters under which “proportionately” is determined.

The Yuma School District has incurred almost $400,000 in expenses to replace signage, athletic uniforms, gym floors and other costs. It was one of only two school districts that applied for a grant under the provisions of Senate Bill 21-116.

However, because the original bill dictated that the money for the mascots would be dead last among priorities under the Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) program, the money was long gone before it could be awarded to any school changing out its mascot.

Twenty-six schools were required to change their mascots before July 1, 2022. Another nine that used “Thunderbird” were added in May 2022 but were given additional time to comply with the law.

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